Chapter 8

"Can we go home yet?" Victor asked, sounding tired.

Isabelle huffed and pointed a finger at him.

"You were the one that came out here by yourself in the first place! We wouldn't have even been in this mess if you weren't so stupid!" She said, glaring at her brother.

"Damn." I muttered, and I even felt Fenrir agreeing with me somehow.

"I always come out here to think! This has never happened before! You can't blame me!" Victor shot back, his face red.

Isabelle looked at him for a minute, then sighed.

"So, why did you come out here anyways? You're lucky I know your usual spot." Isabelle asked, her mood changed to be more understanding.

"I... well... you see..." Victor said, and I could tell he looked uncomfortable.

Isabelle raised an eyebrow at him.

Victor groaned and covered his face with his hands.

"I... I like Marcy!" He said, practically shouting the words.

I had no idea who the fuck that was, but I was here for the juicy gossip nonetheless.

"Yeah... I know. It's pretty obvious." Isabelle replied, and Victor actually looked shocked by that.

"Wait, what?"

"I mean, yeah, the way you always look at her, the way you go out of your way to help and talk to her. How you look jealous whenever another guy hits on her while she's working. Any person with eyes could see that." Isabelle replied.

Victor's jaw hung slack for a little while, and then, he just let out a weary sigh.

"Well... anyways, I kinda... told her how I felt today, and she didn't say anything. She just turned red and ran away from me. She was working too, but she never came back. I think I messed up, so I came out here to think."

Isabelle stared at him like he was an idiot, and even I had to question his intelligence, and I am socially inept.

"Oh my God. You really are an idiot. Tell me, did she look mad?" Isabelle asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Will you stop insulting me please? And no, and that's why I'm confused. She just turned red, almost like she was embarrassed, and then ran away." Victor said, and I couldn't helo but bark a laugh.

"Dude, really?" I asked, and his eyebrows rose.

"What?" He replied.

"I will bet money that the next time you see her, she's gonna jump into your arms and give you a big fat kiss." I said, and Victor turned a shade of red that I didn't even think was possible.

"I'm with Veksys here. With how much time you both spend with each other, and with how much she gazes back at you, I think that should go without saying." She said, and Victor just stared with his mouth open.

"Huh?" Victor asked, and the sound was so inelegant that I laughed again.

"Can we just go home? I've had enough of being out here. Everything will be fine, Vic. Better than fine, I'm sure of it." Isabelle said, and she began walking in the exact direction of Lindell.

"Hey! Wait up!" Victor shouted.

I shared a look with Fenrir, shrugged, and we headed off after them. Fenrir trotted alongside as I caught up to Isabelle.

"So, Veksys, who are you exactly? And where are you from? I've never seen someone like you before, and there's not much around here. And the way you handled those guys... wow." Isabelle said, and I smiled slightly.

In truth, I hadn't really thought about what I would tell them, but the choice seemed pretty obvious, at least to me. I didn't like lying, nor did I have a good reason to do so. I both knew a lot about this world, but didn't at the same time, as many facets of this world were different than the game. I wasn't going to be one of those guys and hide my origins, when talking about it could prove beneficial.

"I'm not from around here. And by that I mean, I'm not from this world. I was sitting about home, playing video games when lightning and thunder boomed loudly around me, and then poof, I was here." I replied.

Victor and Isabelle stopped walking completely and stared at me like I turned into an elephant with six trunks. They just kept staring.

"You... you're an Otherworlder?" Isabelle finally asked, and that small sentence gave me something to work with.

"So there's a name for it? I take it that I'm not the only one then?" I asked.

The two shared a glance, and it was Victor who spoke next.

"Not sure when it last happened, but... yeah. It's not often, but it's not like it doesn't happen. It's rare, but it's not unheard of. Huh. That explains why you're so weird."

I laughed at that.

"Guilty as charged. Still, nice to know I'm not the only one that woke up confused." I replied, still chuckling.

"Your world. Was it different than this one?" Isabelle asked.

"Oh God yeah. This place is way cooler so far. No magic, no levels, no system, no monsters. Shit, my first hour here I killed a bunch of zombies and a Lich. In my world, this world was in a video game." I paused, thinking of a better way to explain it, because I highly doubted these two knew about video games, "Think of a video game as like an interactive choose your own adventure type of story. It's a type of entertainment from my world, but it's all fantasy. It's not real, but this place... this place seems very real to me."

I let that sink in, hoping that I explained it well enough. Apparently, for Victor, I did not.

"Wait... so I'm not real? Are you real? Is any of this real?" He asked, and I stared at him.

Isabelle pinched his arm and he yelped.

"Did that feel real enough?" She asked.

I laughed.

"Yeah man, I'm pretty sure everything here is real." I said, laughing the words.

"Still, this is crazy. So, you know how our world works then I take it because of this game of yours?" Isabelle asked me and I furrowed my brow.

"Yes and no. Things are similar, yet a lot of things are different, which only confirms to me that this is not a dream or something. I'm not this creative, even in my wildest dreams." I replied, and the two siblings considered that.

"How strong are you by chance? I don't have the inspection skill, but I doubt you are the level 3 that the bandit said." Victor said, and I considered telling them, because as I said before, I didn't really have a reason not to.

The only thing that kept me from telling them of my exact strength was mainly because I didn't want them to freak out or something. I wouldn't hide my strength or anything like that, and if it came down to it, I wouldn't have an issue telling them. Either way, it was good to keep some cards hidden from the players, so to speak. I may be absurdly high level, but that didn't mean that there wasn't something out there that couldn't affect me. Well... maybe.

"I'm... pretty strong. I won't have any issues dealing with problems." I replied, and I hoped that they would accept that.

They both looked puzzled, and Victor seemed a little downcast at my answer, but Isabelle nodded.

"Fair enough. We owe you that much for saving our lives. I won't pry." Isabelle said.

Suddenly, Fenrir yelped and ran into the tall grass. My guard immediately went up, as did the two siblings. I couldn't really sense anything, but that didn't mean...

My thoughts cut off as a proud looking Fenrir came back, trotting along with a dead rabbit in his mouth. He stopped in front of me, and dropped it, tail wagging happily behind him.

I bent down and scratched him behind the ears.

"At least you're considerate. Thanks little man."